“Mind-Body Medicine: An Overview” is one of five background papers on the major areas of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The series was prepared as part of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine’s (NCCAM’s) strategic planning efforts for the years 2005 to 2009. These brief reports should not be viewed as comprehensive or definitive reviews. Rather, they are intended to provide a sense of the overarching research challenges and opportunities in particular CAM approaches. To find out more about topics and resources mentioned in this fact sheet, see “For More Information.”

The battleground is the healthcare industry, an industry that represents nearly 20% of our gross national product and doesn’t pay cash on the barrelhead for talking to patients about spirit and ego and transcendence. But it does like cost-effective treatments for asthma, stress and lower back pain.